The days are long and the years are short: a year in the shoes of a SOPHE president

Among the most memorable lessons I learned from my father was based on a comment he often made when I was young: "The days are long and the years are short." During a year as President of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), there were many days that seemed to go on forever; but in retrospect, the entire year seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye. During this year, SOPHE has accomplished much for its members through its annual meetings, publications, and social media presence. Perhaps as important, SOPHE has continued to make an indelible mark on the profession of health education. Whether by launching new initiatives through its cooperative agreements with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ensuring ongoing training for in-service health educators or by continuing to work on unification of the profession in negotiations with the American Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, SOPHE continues to innovate. There remains much to be done; the challenges continue; and the opportunities are rich for the future of health education.

Children's school readiness: implications for eliminating future disparities in health and education

BACKGROUND

School-entry characteristics predict adult educational attainment, which forecasts dispositions toward disease prevention. Health and education risks can also be transmitted from one generation to the next. As such, school readiness forecasts a set of intertwined biopsychosocial trajectories that can influence the developmental antecedents to health and disease prevalence in society.

PURPOSE

To predict children's health behaviors and academic adjustment at the end of fourth grade from their kindergarten entry math, vocabulary, and attention skills.

METHOD

We use a subsample of 614 girls and 541 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (Canada). Children were individually assessed for cognitive skills and teachers rated their classroom attention skills at 65 months. Outcome measures include health behaviors, psychosocial, and academic outcomes at 122 months. Multiple regression analyses were used.

RESULTS

Receptive vocabulary in kindergarten exclusively predicted fourth-grade dietary habits. Unstandardized coefficients predicted decreases in sweet snack intake (β = -.009, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -.011 to -.006) and dairy product intake (β = .009, 95% CI = .005 to .013). Conversely, higher kindergarten math skills predicted increases in activities requiring physical effort (β = .030, 95% CI = .011 to .056). Although vocabulary and attention skills were found important, kindergarten math skills were stronger and more consistent predictors of later academic outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

From a population-health perspective, the skills children bring to the kindergarten classroom might reduce a host of lifestyle risks from childhood through adulthood. Early promotion of such skills also offers possibilities for ultimately reducing later disparities in health and education.